Readers Guide: Book behind Oscar-winning ‘Argo’ movie now at Library

In 1979, when Iranians stormed the American embassy in Tehran in protest over the U.S. granting of asylum to the Shah, a number of staff members were taken captive.

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By Susie Stooksbury/Special to The Oak Ridger

Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

By Susie Stooksbury/Special to The Oak Ridger

Posted Sep. 1, 2013 at 3:32 PM

By Susie Stooksbury/Special to The Oak Ridger

Posted Sep. 1, 2013 at 3:32 PM

In 1979, when Iranians stormed the American embassy in Tehran in protest over the U.S. granting of asylum to the Shah, a number of staff members were taken captive. Six escaped the building before they were captured and they became the focus of an ingenious CIA operation to rescue them. The mastermind and lead extractor, Antonio Mendez, wrote of the operation in “Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History” (955.054). His book was highly dramatized by Ben Affleck and won an Academy Award for Best Picture of 2012.

“A Touch of Frost,” one of England’s most popular televised mystery series, also appeared in the United States on A&E cable network. The acerbic Detective Inspector Jack Frost was the creation of the late R.D. Wingfield whose estate has now authorized a prequel to the popular series. Set in the 1970s, “First Frost” (M) follows young Jack as he works a number of cases — including the sudden disappearance of his supervisor D.I. Bert Williams. James Henry is the author.

When he isn’t writing his popular Andy Carpenter mysteries (the latest is “Unleashed” (M)), David Rosenfelt is rescuing dogs from animal shelters. Over the years he and his wife, Debbie Myers, have placed thousands of dogs in loving homes. The only problem they ran into was when they decided to move their menagerie from their home in Southern California to new digs in Maine. Rosenfelt tells what happened in “Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure” (636.700).

One day while going through some stuff, Cecilia Fitzpatrick comes across a letter from her husband John-Paul. It is addressed to her with the instructions that it is to be read only after his death. Despite the fact that John-Paul is very much alive, Cecilia’s curiosity gets the better of her. She reads it, and the state of her marriage —- indeed, her very life — is changed forever. Liane Moriarty presents her thoroughly engrossing new novel, “The Husband’s Secret.”

The HomeSweetHome Network has just announced the winner of their completely furnished, move-in ready dream home comfortably nestled in picturesque Christmas Cove, Maine. The lucky winner is Janine Brown of Cedar Falls, Iowa. It just so happens, though, that there are two Janine Browns in Cedar Falls. They both set out for their new dream home — each blissfully unaware of the other. Kelly Harms reveals what happens when they meet in her delightful debut novel, “The Goodluck Girls of Shipwreck Lane.”

Here’s something the good folks at Apple probably don’t want you to know: you can charge an iPhone battery using zinc, copper (both from pennies), and an apple. A potato also works, by the way. Theodore Gray, the popular columnist from Popular Science magazine, shows how to do that plus a wide array of other nifty things in “Mad Science 2: Experiments You Can Do at Home, But Still Probably Shouldn’t” (507.800).